Nothing's Like Before
by shadriver
Summary: A retelling of Kingdom Hearts. When he was 4, they made a promise to leave the island together. When he was 5, he was abandoned for but a moment. When he was 10, he promised her that he wouldn't abandon her like he abandoned him. When he was 14, the World opened up before his eyes and the darkness swallowed him.


_Welcome one; welcome all, to Nothing's Like Before! A 'retelling' of Kingdom Hearts, though I dare say retelling is not the correct term to use. It's more so an AU. Regardless, I've had this idea in mind for quite a while and I finally feel like I'm able to put it to words. _

_Will there be Disney? Of course. Angst? Probably. Hijinks galore? Definitely._

_Friendly reminder: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney. There may or may not be a couple OCs here, I'm leaning on not, but if they are, they are the only things that belong to me._

**Prologue: **Promise

「_Track: Simple and Clean_」

Their bedtimes were utterly disregarded, something she was sure she'd be scolded when she eventually returned home. But that was okay as long as she could stay out with her best friend in the whole world, especially under the extra starry night. She wasn't sure if 'starry' was a word but hey, you probably know what she's talking about. She turned her head to the boy sitting next to her, on the docs of Destiny Island's Kid Paradise, as it was called, and watched as he stared up into the sky. His eyes held a blank, dark look and it was obvious only to her that he was lost in his thoughts again. She never liked him when he was like that, to be honest. He never smiled; he rarely talked. So different from the him that she first met so long ago. Even though it was 5 years ago, they were both 10 now, she'd never forget it.

_-Lock-_

_It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the morning sun, she wasn't sure how long she had been on the beach in the first place, but by the time she could see correctly, there was a boy standing in front of her._

"_Hey, what's your name?" He bent over and smiled at her then. The smile she would come to cherish; though she would never admit it, not now anyways. Though… there were a lot of people who loved his smile, most far more open than she. He just had that effect on people._

"_My name's- I'm Kairi." She muttered back, a little lost. _

"_Have you seen a boy around here, Kairi?" He stood back up, looking at to the sea._

"_No…"_

"_Well, that's okay." He bent over again, extending a hand. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone." She wasn't sure why, she still isn't sure to this day, but she felt the need to reach out and take his hand. And so she did. With a quick lift, she was on her feet, her bare feet. The wet sand tickled them._

"_Okay." Her voice quivered. The boy raised an eyebrow at her._

"_Is something wrong?" _

"_I don't remember anything." She paused. "Besides my name." An uncomfortable feeling settled in her belly. Something was wrong, very wrong. Why was she here, suddenly, and why couldn't she remember anything?_

"_That's okay! I'm sure you'll remember soon!" He smiled at her again. "Until then, you can sit back and relax here, on Destiny Islands, okay?" And just like that, she felt like everything would be alright._

"_Okay!" She somehow managed a smile, though she didn't know that's what she was doing._

"_Ah! You smiled!" He giggled. "You have a cute smile." He began to walk forward and she followed, a slight red blush spread across her cheeks._

"…_You never told me your name." She found her voice again._

"_Oh. Sorry. My mom says I have to work on my manners." He rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "My name's-"_

_-Lock-_

"Sora." She started, he ignored her. "Sora!" She repeated.

"Yeah?" He turned his head her way, his eyes a little blank. Perhaps he hadn't been ignoring her on purpose.

"Are you okay?" The girl sitting next to him grinned as she asked; it was enough to put a grin on his face too.

"Yeah. Just thinking." He turned back to the stars.

"About that thing." She looked at the stars now too. "The thing you won't tell me about." There was a hint of anger in her voice. How come he wouldn't tell her? She always told him everything.

"Yeah." He nodded. "But maybe I can tell you today." The girl gasped, just a tad on the overly dramatic side.

"Really?" She asked with the same melodramatic tone.

"Yeah." Sora chuckled. "It's like you always say, it's not fair if I don't tell you. I think you always say that anyways."

"I do." He glared at her for interrupting him but it was a playful glare. Her grin spread even wider. "Go on, go on~."

_-Lock-_

"_Go on, go on!" He smiled as he pushed her ahead of himself. "You have to at least say hi!" They both stood in front of a house, far bigger than most of the others on the mainland. As it turns out, the mayor himself has decided to take Kairi in and she made no attempt to hide her frustration. You see, she rather liked staying at Sora's house, which is where she was before the mayor decided to adopt her. He was her only friend._

"_I don't want to." Her feet were planted firmly into the ground, which reminded her of how often Sora would get angry at the fact that she was stronger than him. He usually played it off well though._

"_But Kairi, you don't even know if you'll like it yet." He pushed again. _

"_I won't." She shook her head. _

"_Kairi…" The mayor stood in the door way. He had half a mind to drag the girl in but that wouldn't solve anything, it'd only make things worse, so he resolved to let the children figure it out themselves._

"_No." She turned to the mayor solely to shake her head at him. "You're going to separate me and Sora." _

"_Kairi, that's crazy." He chuckled. "I can visit you whenever I want."_

"_Really?"_

"_Sure."_

"_Every day then?" She turned her head to look back at him. He was smiling again._

"_Every day." She finally stopped resisting, taking a few steps forward on her own. This, of course, resulted in Sora getting a face full of ground. "Oh Sora, I'm sor-!" She was interrupted by his laughter._

"_Wow, I can't believe I just did that!" He managed to get out between laughs, and before she knew it, Kairi was laughing too._

_-Lock-_

"Well. Before you showed up, I had another best friend." He cupped his hands behind his head and laid it there, looking straight up. She gasped again, this one purely honest. "Me and him used to look up at the stars like this too; it was his idea really. He always used to go on about how much he wanted to leave this island and explore the other worlds out there. And how I could come with him, and we'd take down bad guys and stuff."

"Other worlds?" She questioned. He rarely brought up that topic, usually when he asked her if she remembered anything about where she came from. She never did.

"Yeah. Like where you came from." He nodded at her. "And one night, he just vanished. I came here like always but he never showed up. I stayed out looking for him until morning but I didn't find him. I did find you though," he grinned. "And that was pretty nice." She remembered that day well, it was her first memory. Of her washing up on the beach and how he'd been the one to find her, though she never questioned what, or why, he was out looking for that day. Now she knew.

_-Lock-_

"_Riku!" He shouted again. It was way past his bedtime and he was sure that he would be grounded for the rest of his life but this was important. He'd counted pretty much every star at least twice and his best friend had yet to show up. He hadn't seen him at all today, if he really thought about it, which wasn't as weird since he could find some really interesting places. Like their Secret Spot near the little pond. But it wasn't like Riku to miss their scheduled 'star nights,' he was always on time for that. "Riku!" He ran along the beach, cupping his hands over his mouth and yelling. If he was on the mainland, he was sure he'd wake up his sleeping neighbors and get in even __**more **__trouble but luckily, that was not the case._

_And he searched, and searched, until the sun started to rise. He had given up hope by that point. That is, until he saw a child laying in the sand, letting the water splash over them. "Riku!" He smiled and ran over to them, only to discover that it was not Riku at all. It was a girl he'd never seen before. Maybe she was new? But then why was she on the Play Island all alone; and so early too. Maybe she was from another world, perhaps one of those places Riku always talked about going. He shook his head, he'd find Riku later. He wanted to meet this girl and figure out who she was first. He walked over to her slowly, mostly because she looked a little bit confused just sitting there._

"_Hey, what's your name?"_

_-Lock-_

"Wow…" Her eyes lit up with amazement and she turned her head to the stars again. She didn't think there was such a mystery on this little island. A boy who went missing…

"I'm sure he found a way to other worlds. And one day, when I get stronger, I'm going to go after him." He paused for a long time. Curious, she faced him and saw tears swelling up in his eyes.

"Sora…"

"I want to know why he left me." He brought his legs onto the dock and hugged them. "He said he'd take me with him…" The girl wrapped an arm around him. "Kairi…"

"It's okay." She smiled at him again. "Just take me with you when you go, okay?" He wiped the tears from his eyes; there was no way he'd leave her behind like he left him.

"Okay."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

_-Lock-_

It'd been years since that conversation but he remembered it well. Sora, now at the age of 14, looked out at the stars from the docs, now alone.

"We're going to find you soon... Riku..."

_Kingdom Hearts: Nothing's Like Before_


End file.
